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Apparently, Johnson didn't watch the Jets this season, or he doesn't understand how his football operations worked.

In a year that included the Tim Tebow insanity, Mark Sanchez's gruesome underachievement, and the expression "butt fumble" becoming forever a part of the football lexicon, Monday's decision to keep Ryan and fire Tannenbaum was theJets' worst moment of 2012.

Hey -- happy New Year.

The Jets had two choices: Take a deep breath and retain both Ryan and Tannenbaum -- a duo that won more games than they lost in their four years together -- or fire both.

The one thing they shouldn't have done was attack the issue piecemeal.

The decision was very simple, but the Jets messed it up in "butt fumble" fashion.

You can make the case that Tannenbaum deserved to lose his job because of the extension given to Sanchez last offseason, guaranteeing the quarterback more than $8 million for 2013. It was basically money to pump up the confidence-deficient signal-caller coming off a shaky 2011. One could also cite other bad player contracts in making a case against Tannenbaum.

But Ryan and Tannenbaum should've been attached at the hip.

Ryan worked hand-in-hand with Tannenbaum on shaping the Jets. He had more power than most head coaches.

Ryan was convinced Sanchez had the talent and personality (which is laughable to think now, after Sanchez's postgame press conferences this year) to handle New York and thrive. He wanted to draft Sanchez. He pushed for Tannenbaum to give him that contract after speculation arose that the Jets wanted Peyton Manning.Ryan wanted Tebow. He wanted to run the ball and get back to "ground and pound," and he envisioned Tebow as a threat in the red zone, in short-yardage situations and in the Wildcat.

Remember the toxic Jets locker room in 2011 and all the finger pointing that was part of that season's collapse? Ryan thought Tebow could help the locker room. That's a fact.

Yes, Tannenbaum was on board with the trade. But Ryan, who shares an agent with Tebow, drove the bus.

Tannenbaum wanted to sign Chad Henne to be Sanchez's backup. The Jets did, in fact, sign Drew Stanton before the Tebow trade. After the Tebow trade, Tannenbaum did right by Stanton, dealing him to the Indianapolis Colts. As it turned out, Stanton would've been the best quarterback on the Jets' roster this year.Ryan hand-picked Tony Sparano as his offensive coordinator to run the ball. As Ryan told me, "I wanted to find the mirror image of me." It was an unmitigated disaster. The Jets' offensive line was the worst it had been in years. Ryan wanted Dave DeGuglielmo as his line coach. Ryan told me on SiriusXM this summer that he knew DeGuglielmo was his guy when he saw him kick over a garbage can, showing fight. Garbage, as it turned out, was the ideal metaphor.It's easy to say that Tannenbaum put together a poor roster, and it's a valid criticism. However, I'd argue that the bigger issue was giving Ryan so much say, listening to him when he claimed he could coach up the likes of Aaron Maybin and Wayne Hunter and turn them into signature players.

Sparano lost faith in Tebow early on because of bad practice and Tebow's weight gain. Last summer, Tebow was behind both Kyle Orton and Brady Quinn on the Denver Broncos' depth chart before leading the team to the playoffs. If you get in bed with Tebow, you don't judge on practice.

Ryan is a sub-par in-game coach. His usage of timeouts and challenges is laughable.

He looks especially bad when one considers how the San Diego Chargers and Buffalo Bills closed out their seasons. Like the Jets, the Chargers and Bills were merely playing out the string over the final few weeks, but unlike the Jets, theChargers and the Bills kept fighting. In Week 16, San Diego had to travel to the East Coast to face the Jets for an early start; the Bolts easily could have quit. Instead, they sacked McElroy 11 times in a 27-17 win. However, both theChargers and Bills fired head coaches Norv Turner and Chan Gailey, respectively.

Ryan, meanwhile, got to keep his job, even though he can't coach, manage, or properly evaluate players or coaches.

What legit general manager candidate would take this job and inherit Rex?

Think about the dynamic for next season. The Jets aren't close to competing with the New England Patriots and winning the AFC East. This offseason calls for the Jets to be re-shaped while the cap ramifications of Tannenbaum's bad deals are handled. The new GM should want to stockpile talent and build the team smartly. Ryan, on the other hand, will be coaching for his job; he'll favor band-aid-type solutions, even though surgery is what the Jets need.

Historically, things don't work out when the new brass keeps the old coach. Look at Chicago Bears GM Phil Emery and former coach Lovie Smith. Analyze what happened when Mike Holmgren joined the Cleveland Browns without jettisoning Eric Mangini. Such moves simply delay the inevitable.

The Jets either needed to keep both Mike and Rex, or they needed to start over.

Keeping Ryan for another year with a new GM just ensures more wackiness -- and that I'll be penning a "Rex Ryan has been fired" column 365 days from now.Woody Johnson should really reconsider.

I feel terrible for the diehard, long-suffering Jets fan, who deserved a better and clearer direction for the team to go.

giving ryan so much say is tannenbaum's fault. bottomline. ryan wasn't hired to be the assistant GM. He's the head coach. The GM's job is to NOT listen to him. To make his own decisions.

rex ryan crafted genius game plans to defeat peytoin manning and tom brady in the freaking playoffs. let's get off the "ryan is an imbecile" thing. this is very short sighted.

the franchise missed on Sanchez. missed bad. as soon as the reigns loosened on Sanchez, the team fell apart. You can't play on a team with QB play that is that bad. I mean....look at Sanchez's stats. He's one of the worst QBs ever.

EVER.

Gailey and Turner didnt get to keep their jobs bc they didn't coach teams handicapped at QB to consecutive AFCCGs. With a vastly superior roster on both sides of the ball (multiple HOFers), and one of the elite teams in the NFL over the past 8 years, Turner actually lost to the Jets in the playoffs. While he did beat Payton Manning, he never beat Tom Brady, and never made the SB when he SHOULD have.

In fact he was terrible in the playoffs when his owner and GM had every business expecting superbowls. (The only teams to beat the Chargers in the playoffs since 2000 are the Steelers, Jets and Patriots.)

here is Norv's career losing record: Regular season 112–122–1 Postseason 4–4 Career record 116–126–1

Rex Ryan had NO business being in the playoffs or expecting anything great there twice. And twice he made it to the AFCCG, beating Manning and Brady.

Coaches deserve to get fired when you have the roster that Norv had and no playoff success. RR? he deserves to be somewhere else. and he can definitely win in this league (winning record reg season and POs with absolute crap at QB).

Agree - a GM's job is to supply the players that fits the coach's philosophy. It is the GMs job to make those decisions whether the coach agrees with them or not. Likewise, If Rex Ryan wants a player the GM either agrees or not. A good HC will accept the GMs role. Either way it's the GMs call and he lives and takes the resposibilty with player personnel decisions. Tannebaum made all those decisions - it was his responsibility whether Ryan pushed for them or not.

giving ryan so much say is tannenbaum's fault. bottomline. ryan wasn't hired to be the assistant GM. He's the head coach. The GM's job is to NOT listen to him. To make his own decisions.

Exactly. The Jets' management structure has basically lacked any clear definition and limits for the respective positions. Tanny not being Rex's boss and not really having GM authority, Rex making personnel decisions, Woody involved in personnel and on-field decisions -- that's why I have been calling them the Three Amigos all season. It is like they are al velcro'd at the hip. And even more troubling is Woody's seemingly going the way of Jerry Jones, being the de facto GM. And people wonder why this organization is a comical rats nest.

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It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye. Then it's just fun.

DV, that was the inherent problem of Tannenbaum not having a personnel background. He had no choice but to rely heavily on Rex. The Jets are looking at guys with heavy personnel backgrounds so Rex wont be relied on with new GM.

Tannenbaum lost a fight with Rex to bring in a back-up QB who might OMIGOD threaten Mark Sanchez and people still hold out hope that Rex is a good coach.

It's easy to argue that he's had the league's worst QB play over this 4 year stretch. The fact that he made 2 deep playoff runs and the team's overall record is still above .500 in that stretch is quite impressive.

Yeah, OK, because I'm the only person in the world that thinks Rex is a good coach with a potential to achieve greatness. I'm sure I'm the only one.

Mark Sanchez managed to infilitrate the lockerroom ahd drug Rex Ryan in starting him. Also, used mind control on Ryan to get him to say "Mark Sanchez gives us the best chnace to win".

I think that Ryan does have some good attrbiutes on the defensiive side of the ball. ANd unlike Herman Edwards and Eric Mangini, he can be a a big personality, But he really is lost at sea when it comes to offense.

It's easy to argue that he's had the league's worst QB play over this 4 year stretch. The fact that he made 2 deep playoff runs and the team's overall record is still above .500 in that stretch is quite impressive.

No denying that getting to the AFCCG twice with bad QB play was impressive, but he's also the one who never even tried to fix the position. It's myopia, and judging by Sanchez's exit interview, it sounds like Rex hasn't figured out that botching the offense was his problem to solve. In short, Rex is out of his mind.

Mark Sanchez managed to infilitrate the lockerroom ahd drug Rex Ryan in starting him. Also, used mind control on Ryan to get him to say "Mark Sanchez gives us the best chnace to win".

I think that Ryan does have some good attrbiutes on the defensiive side of the ball. ANd unlike Herman Edwards and Eric Mangini, he can be a a big personality, But he really is lost at sea when it comes to offense.

He's not a leader, he's a cheerleader. The team imploded down the stretch two years in a row. He's 9-15 in his last 24 games. Enough.

Mark Sanchez managed to infilitrate the lockerroom ahd drug Rex Ryan in starting him. Also, used mind control on Ryan to get him to say "Mark Sanchez gives us the best chnace to win".

Tebow and McElroy were the only guys behind Sanchez.

On the whole, if you started either of those guys 15 games, I suspect that they both would have had a (slightly) better stat-line. But not enough to make a difference.

I think it's less about blindly supporting Sanchez, and more about supporting your guy when the options behind him aren't noticeably better. Your guy is always going to get the benefit of the doubt there. It's not as if they had Colin K or Matt Flynn waiting on the bench.

I think that Ryan does have some good attrbiutes on the defensiive side of the ball. ANd unlike Herman Edwards and Eric Mangini, he can be a a big personality, But he really is lost at sea when it comes to offense.

He has to get better, but he's still young (in coach years), so I suspect that he will. Dude is a competitor. When you look at his track record thusfar and consider his youth/inexperience, as well as the crap play he got out of the most important position in the league... it's tough not to see the potential for greatness in him.

What I would do is get myself a guy like Norv Turner, make him the assistant coach/offensive coordinator and have him help Rex with the offense. The two of them would work great together.